Background and Rationale
As America strives to improve education, technology is one of the tools most frequently called upon. The Common Core State Standards (2010) call for students to be able to be ready for college, the workforce, or basically to live in a technological society (p. 4). The Department of Education’s report (2010) demands learning which “reflects 21st century expertise” and “exploits the flexibility and power of technology to reach all learners anytime and anywhere” (Office of Educational Technology, pp. xi - xii). Further, technology is being summoned to “personalize the learning experience” (Project Tomorrow, 2012, p. 4). In order to meet this demand, a one-to-one student to computer ratio is required (Office of Educational Technology, 2010, p. xiii). Since many schools are financially unable to meet this requirement, many propose a movement which will allow students to bring their own devices to school (Devaney, 2012; Johnson, 2012). Proponents of this movement, known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), claim that it will meet the need for student devices inside of the classroom, while teaching students to use their devices outside of the classroom for educational purposes.
Although meeting student’s needs by providing devices for technology will help meet technological initiatives, devices alone will not change education. In reality, devices have had “very little impact on teacher practice” (Wiburg & Butler, 2003, p. 10). Teachers that have shown the greatest use of high-tech integration are those that practice a student-centered approach (Fulton & Sibley, 2003, p. 19). Therefore, a BYOD policy, which merely puts high-tech devices into the hands of students, will not guarantee that they will be exploiting the power of technology or receiving personalized instruction. Researchers need to find answers to questions such as, How are teachers in BYOD districts leveraging the technology that is in the hands of their students? Has it changed their pedagogy? If so, how has this affected student learning? Research can help determine whether BYOD policies are truly meeting the goals of this nation by improving instruction.
While the need for technology has been identified, and the solution for lack of devices has been proposed, the evidence that a BYOD policy will improve the use of technology while influencing pedagogy is lacking. Before educators commence to extend BYOD policy across this nation, researchers need to show whether or not it is truly impacting education. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect that BYOD policy has had on classrooms in diverse communities. The results of this study can help educators to determine how, when, and if they should move forward with adopting a BYOD policy for their school districts.
Research Design An in-depth qualitative research design will be used to determine if students’ use of BYOD devices has had an effect on their pedagogy. The dependent variables are defined in the participants section, and the independent variables are defined in the setting section. The design was chosen because BYOD itself is still in its infancy and more data is required to define the effects of BYOD in a classroom.
Participants/Sampling
This study involves the pedagogy of BYOD in schools. The population identified for this study will contain teachers in schools which allow students to bring their own device for instruction. Classroom teachers will be observed in their classroom with students who use their own devices during instructional time. Teachers from all content areas will be observed to see how each of them allows students to use their own device in their classroom. Teachers will be asked how effective BYOD is in their classroom and if BYOD is ineffective in the classroom. A questionnaire which would be web-based will be given to teachers asking them how effective BYOD is used in the classroom. Students will be identified in the study as well. They will asked how often they use their own device in the classroom and how they collaborate with their peers while using their own device. The results will give feedback on how BYOD impact pedagogy in the classroom.
Methods and Data
Teachers and students will be sent the directions on how to complete the survey form on Google. The survey will be open for teachers and students for two days. After the time has elapsed, the survey will be closed and the data will be transferred into a chart with the final results. Teacher and students will be given likert and open-ended questions in the survey. The survey will be short with the hopes that all teachers and students complete the questions.
Teachers will complete the short survey to answer the following questions:
Answer the questions based on Weekly, Daily, Monthly, or Never.
How often do you use allow students to use their own device in your classroom?
How often do students collaborate with other students while using their own device?
Answer the questions with the response Yes or No.
Do you think that BYOD is helping with student achievement?
Do you think the BYOD policy creates an effective learning environment?
Do you agree with the BYOD policy?
With the scoring rate of 1-Not Effective 2-Slighty Effective 3-Moderately Effective 4-Effective 5-Very Effective
On a scale of 1-5, rate the effectiveness of students bringing their own devices to school for learning.
On a scale of 1-5, rate how BYOD is impacting pedagogy in the classroom.
Answer the following questions:
Would the BYOD policy be considered an effective learning tool? Why or why not?
Do you think that your students use their own device only for learning in your classroom?
Students will answer the survey questions. Student will rate the questions by Weekly, Daily, Monthly, or Never.
How often do you use your own device in the classroom?
How often do your teacher allow you to collaborate with your peers when using your own device?
Answer the questions with the response of Yes or No.
Do you think it is a good idea for you to use your own device for school?
Do you use your own device only for learning in the classroom?
Teachers will have to think about how BYOD is changing or improving the way they teach. They will determine if BYOD is changing the way they are teaching or is it just another gadget being implemented. Teachers would have to see how BYOD is being used as a tool in the classroom and if it is actually improving the use of technology in the classroom.
Setting
Middle and high school classes using BYOD devices in their classrooms and middle and high school classes that are not using BYOD in a daily manner. The research will take place several times a week over the period of one school-year. The students will be monitored and surveyed to measure their levels of pedagogy, and in what areas of pedagogy that have been effected, either positively or negatively.
Instrumentation
Student participants will complete a survey and interact with researchers in a verbal interview that will help researchers understand their level of pedagogy before and after the school-year. The survey will be based on the CESA 6 survey that was used for teachers at a conference. Teachers should be able to answer all of the questions about BYOD impact in their classrooms, and be able to reflect on the changes that BYOD has had on their classes. Surveys will be presented to teachers at the start of the research term, in the middle and at the conclusion to see how data has changed over the period of research.
The surveys will be distributed via a website and teachers will need to log in to the surveys with their email address and a short password to ensure that the survey and its questions remain secure. The data from the surveys will be collated and made available to the researchers on the same website.
Procedures Independent Variables The U.S. Department of education’s National Education Technology Trends Study (NETTS) questioner will be use to analyze information (see attachment). This information will be compared with previous data collected during the fiscal year (FY) 2005 and 2007. The collected data will be use to analyze the usefulness of BYOD to schools. The study group will be a random selection of school districts with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or Bring Your Own Technology policies in place. The study will look at how the schools districts are handling students own technology devices. These devices belong to the students but are used in a controlled learning environment. BYOD refers to students owned laptops, tablets, cell phones, and iPods that can connect via Wi-Fi or direct Internet connection allowed by the schools policies. The schools will be selected randomly and teachers’ participation will be voluntarily. They should have the State issued teaching license, one to 10 years of experience and have completed their teaching degrees within 10 years. The reason to have teachers with one to 10 years experience is to look at their technology preparedness. Teachers’ expertise with using technology will be observed. The information will be collected in two ways; teachers questioners and teachers observation.The study group will be a selection of high schools students’ classrooms in different socioeconomic groups: high, medium and low income as reported by the schools (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2009). Students that do not own their own device should be allowed to borrow a device from school or having access to a device by visiting a local library. Students that may not have Internet at home but have a device may be able to visit a local business with free WiFi connection or visit a local library. Another area that will be look at is the influence BYOD has in pedagogy. How teaching methods are affected by allowing BYOD? Are teachers changing the way they construct lesson plans to maximize the use of technology devices in the classroom? Is BYOD extending teaching time beyond the school hours?
Dependent Variables The are some variable to consider; curriculum, school districts, teachers and students technology proficiency, absenteeism or drop outs, Internet or WiFi connectivity, classroom environment and students motivation (Thorsen, 2009). Because the research will be conducted in a different schools districts, which can influence the research. For example a school distinct in Florida will not have to close schools due to snow. The curriculum used in class can vary from one school district to another. The teachers’ proficiency dealing with technology devices in the classroom can be a factor. Their professional development can influence the outcome depending if they have receive training in technology application and to what level (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2011). Internet or WiFi connectivity at school or home as well as students going to local business to connect can influence the outcome of the survey. The classroom environment can be another factor to consider. There are teachers who can manage their classroom better that others and that can influence ob students learning. The students’ motivation to use the technology device can influence on how much the technology device is used (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2009). Data Analysis The data will be collected and analyzed throughout the school year following the grounded theory of interpretational analysis. This approach to qualitative research allows the research team to see the emerging trends in the research on BYOD and add or modify the data collection procedures if needed. The data from the NETTS teacher surveys will be collected using the software program HyperResearch. HyperResearch will allow the research team to analyze text and any other data sources that will be collected during the evaluative study of the pedagogy of BYOD in schools. Once surveys are collected and entered into the database, it will break down all text into segments. This will allow the research team to compare how educators view the use of BYOD in the classroom. The software will then input students’ responses to the NETTS survey allowing the research team to determine if BYOD made a difference in the control group that did not use BYOD. Once the initial data is structured, coded, and categorized the research team will compare results throughout the year. This use of constant comparison will allow the research team to identify commonalities in the data, thus allowing for a clearer interpretation of the data at the conclusion of the research (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2009).
Assumptions and Limitations The framework for the research on BYOD pedagogy will initially take place for one school year. This will limit its reliability because a one year study of data will not be an accurate analysis of how BYOD is changing pedagogy in the classroom. Student survey responses will only reflect one year of using BYOD and will not take into account the following years where students will become more accustomed to using their own devices for learning, collaboration, and improvement of skills. Another limitation of the initial research study is that there are only two collection methods for data analysis. A further research study could interview teachers, utilize classroom observations, interview students, and analyze student work examples to gain a larger understanding of how BYOD is impacting pedagogy. The evaluative research model can also be a limitation to its effectiveness. After initial analyzing of data from the evaluative research, it may be determined that further research should utilize a more mixed method of research that uses more student data and is more quantitative in nature. The limitations of the study can also be found in the teacher participants. It should be noted that other factors will have influenced change of teacher pedagogy such as professional development, the NETTS survey does not solely reflect the use of BYOD as an influence on pedagogy. Researchers should also take into account multiple factors when analyzing the data which may limit is validity, including the following: 1) How many years has the teacher been teaching? 2) Did the teacher volunteer for the study or was told to do so by administration? 3) Does the School district’s technology framework support BYOD? 4) Did the teachers receive professional development on BYOD? The answers to these questions will help determine the significance of the data from the surveys and student scores (Dusick, 2011).
Dusick, D. M. (2011). Writing the assumptions and limitations. Bold Educational Software. Retrieved
from http://bold-ed.com/assumptions.htm
Fulton, K., & Sibley, R. (2003). Barriers to Equity. In G. Solomon, N. Allen, & P. Resta (Eds.), Toward Digital Equity (pp. 14 - 24). Boston: Pearson Educational Group, Inc.
Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2009). Applying educational research, how to read, do, and use research to solve problems of practice. (6 ed.). Boton: Allyn & Bacon.
Johnson, D. (2012). On board with BYOD. Educational Leadership, 70(2), 84 - 85.
Office of Educational Technology. (2010). Transforming American education: Learning powered by technology. U.S. Department of Education.
Project Tomorrow. (2012). Learning in the 21st century mobile devices + social media = personalized learning. Washington: Blackboard.com. Retrieved from Project Tomorrow.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2011). Teaching and learning at a distance, foundations of distance education. Allyn & Bacon.
Thorsen, C. (2009). Tech tactics for technology for teachers. (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Wiburg, K. M., & Butler, J. (2003). Creating Educational Access. In G. Solomon, N. J. Allen, & P. Resta (Eds.), Toward Digtial Equity (pp. 1 - 24). Boston: Pearson Education Group, Inc.
As America strives to improve education, technology is one of the tools most frequently called upon. The Common Core State Standards (2010) call for students to be able to be ready for college, the workforce, or basically to live in a technological society (p. 4). The Department of Education’s report (2010) demands learning which “reflects 21st century expertise” and “exploits the flexibility and power of technology to reach all learners anytime and anywhere” (Office of Educational Technology, pp. xi - xii). Further, technology is being summoned to “personalize the learning experience” (Project Tomorrow, 2012, p. 4). In order to meet this demand, a one-to-one student to computer ratio is required (Office of Educational Technology, 2010, p. xiii). Since many schools are financially unable to meet this requirement, many propose a movement which will allow students to bring their own devices to school (Devaney, 2012; Johnson, 2012). Proponents of this movement, known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), claim that it will meet the need for student devices inside of the classroom, while teaching students to use their devices outside of the classroom for educational purposes.
Although meeting student’s needs by providing devices for technology will help meet technological initiatives, devices alone will not change education. In reality, devices have had “very little impact on teacher practice” (Wiburg & Butler, 2003, p. 10). Teachers that have shown the greatest use of high-tech integration are those that practice a student-centered approach (Fulton & Sibley, 2003, p. 19). Therefore, a BYOD policy, which merely puts high-tech devices into the hands of students, will not guarantee that they will be exploiting the power of technology or receiving personalized instruction. Researchers need to find answers to questions such as, How are teachers in BYOD districts leveraging the technology that is in the hands of their students? Has it changed their pedagogy? If so, how has this affected student learning? Research can help determine whether BYOD policies are truly meeting the goals of this nation by improving instruction.
While the need for technology has been identified, and the solution for lack of devices has been proposed, the evidence that a BYOD policy will improve the use of technology while influencing pedagogy is lacking. Before educators commence to extend BYOD policy across this nation, researchers need to show whether or not it is truly impacting education. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect that BYOD policy has had on classrooms in diverse communities. The results of this study can help educators to determine how, when, and if they should move forward with adopting a BYOD policy for their school districts.
Research Design
An in-depth qualitative research design will be used to determine if students’ use of BYOD devices has had an effect on their pedagogy. The dependent variables are defined in the participants section, and the independent variables are defined in the setting section. The design was chosen because BYOD itself is still in its infancy and more data is required to define the effects of BYOD in a classroom.
Participants/Sampling
This study involves the pedagogy of BYOD in schools. The population identified for this study will contain teachers in schools which allow students to bring their own device for instruction. Classroom teachers will be observed in their classroom with students who use their own devices during instructional time. Teachers from all content areas will be observed to see how each of them allows students to use their own device in their classroom. Teachers will be asked how effective BYOD is in their classroom and if BYOD is ineffective in the classroom. A questionnaire which would be web-based will be given to teachers asking them how effective BYOD is used in the classroom. Students will be identified in the study as well. They will asked how often they use their own device in the classroom and how they collaborate with their peers while using their own device. The results will give feedback on how BYOD impact pedagogy in the classroom.
Methods and Data
Teachers and students will be sent the directions on how to complete the survey form on Google. The survey will be open for teachers and students for two days. After the time has elapsed, the survey will be closed and the data will be transferred into a chart with the final results. Teacher and students will be given likert and open-ended questions in the survey. The survey will be short with the hopes that all teachers and students complete the questions.
Teachers will complete the short survey to answer the following questions:
Answer the questions based on Weekly, Daily, Monthly, or Never.
Answer the questions with the response Yes or No.
With the scoring rate of 1-Not Effective 2-Slighty Effective 3-Moderately Effective 4-Effective 5-Very Effective
Answer the following questions:
Students will answer the survey questions.
Student will rate the questions by Weekly, Daily, Monthly, or Never.
Answer the questions with the response of Yes or No.
- Do you think it is a good idea for you to use your own device for school?
- Do you use your own device only for learning in the classroom?
Teachers will have to think about how BYOD is changing or improving the way they teach. They will determine if BYOD is changing the way they are teaching or is it just another gadget being implemented. Teachers would have to see how BYOD is being used as a tool in the classroom and if it is actually improving the use of technology in the classroom.Setting
Middle and high school classes using BYOD devices in their classrooms and middle and high school classes that are not using BYOD in a daily manner. The research will take place several times a week over the period of one school-year. The students will be monitored and surveyed to measure their levels of pedagogy, and in what areas of pedagogy that have been effected, either positively or negatively.
Instrumentation
Student participants will complete a survey and interact with researchers in a verbal interview that will help researchers understand their level of pedagogy before and after the school-year. The survey will be based on the CESA 6 survey that was used for teachers at a conference. Teachers should be able to answer all of the questions about BYOD impact in their classrooms, and be able to reflect on the changes that BYOD has had on their classes. Surveys will be presented to teachers at the start of the research term, in the middle and at the conclusion to see how data has changed over the period of research.
The surveys will be distributed via a website and teachers will need to log in to the surveys with their email address and a short password to ensure that the survey and its questions remain secure. The data from the surveys will be collated and made available to the researchers on the same website.
Procedures
Independent Variables The U.S. Department of education’s National Education Technology Trends Study (NETTS) questioner will be use to analyze information (see attachment). This information will be compared with previous data collected during the fiscal year (FY) 2005 and 2007. The collected data will be use to analyze the usefulness of BYOD to schools. The study group will be a random selection of school districts with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or Bring Your Own Technology policies in place. The study will look at how the schools districts are handling students own technology devices. These devices belong to the students but are used in a controlled learning environment. BYOD refers to students owned laptops, tablets, cell phones, and iPods that can connect via Wi-Fi or direct Internet connection allowed by the schools policies.
The schools will be selected randomly and teachers’ participation will be voluntarily. They should have the State issued teaching license, one to 10 years of experience and have completed their teaching degrees within 10 years. The reason to have teachers with one to 10 years experience is to look at their technology preparedness. Teachers’ expertise with using technology will be observed. The information will be collected in two ways; teachers questioners and teachers observation.The study group will be a selection of high schools students’ classrooms in different socioeconomic groups: high, medium and low income as reported by the schools (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2009). Students that do not own their own device should be allowed to borrow a device from school or having access to a device by visiting a local library. Students that may not have Internet at home but have a device may be able to visit a local business with free WiFi connection or visit a local library. Another area that will be look at is the influence BYOD has in pedagogy. How teaching methods are affected by allowing BYOD? Are teachers changing the way they construct lesson plans to maximize the use of technology devices in the classroom? Is BYOD extending teaching time beyond the school hours?
Dependent Variables The are some variable to consider; curriculum, school districts, teachers and students technology proficiency, absenteeism or drop outs, Internet or WiFi connectivity, classroom environment and students motivation (Thorsen, 2009). Because the research will be conducted in a different schools districts, which can influence the research. For example a school distinct in Florida will not have to close schools due to snow. The curriculum used in class can vary from one school district to another. The teachers’ proficiency dealing with technology devices in the classroom can be a factor. Their professional development can influence the outcome depending if they have receive training in technology application and to what level (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2011). Internet or WiFi connectivity at school or home as well as students going to local business to connect can influence the outcome of the survey. The classroom environment can be another factor to consider. There are teachers who can manage their classroom better that others and that can influence ob students learning. The students’ motivation to use the technology device can influence on how much the technology device is used (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2009).
Data Analysis
The data will be collected and analyzed throughout the school year following the grounded theory of interpretational analysis. This approach to qualitative research allows the research team to see the emerging trends in the research on BYOD and add or modify the data collection procedures if needed. The data from the NETTS teacher surveys will be collected using the software program HyperResearch. HyperResearch will allow the research team to analyze text and any other data sources that will be collected during the evaluative study of the pedagogy of BYOD in schools. Once surveys are collected and entered into the database, it will break down all text into segments. This will allow the research team to compare how educators view the use of BYOD in the classroom. The software will then input students’ responses to the NETTS survey allowing the research team to determine if BYOD made a difference in the control group that did not use BYOD. Once the initial data is structured, coded, and categorized the research team will compare results throughout the year. This use of constant comparison will allow the research team to identify commonalities in the data, thus allowing for a clearer interpretation of the data at the conclusion of the research (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2009).
Assumptions and Limitations
The framework for the research on BYOD pedagogy will initially take place for one school year. This will limit its reliability because a one year study of data will not be an accurate analysis of how BYOD is changing pedagogy in the classroom. Student survey responses will only reflect one year of using BYOD and will not take into account the following years where students will become more accustomed to using their own devices for learning, collaboration, and improvement of skills. Another limitation of the initial research study is that there are only two collection methods for data analysis. A further research study could interview teachers, utilize classroom observations, interview students, and analyze student work examples to gain a larger understanding of how BYOD is impacting pedagogy. The evaluative research model can also be a limitation to its effectiveness. After initial analyzing of data from the evaluative research, it may be determined that further research should utilize a more mixed method of research that uses more student data and is more quantitative in nature. The limitations of the study can also be found in the teacher participants. It should be noted that other factors will have influenced change of teacher pedagogy such as professional development, the NETTS survey does not solely reflect the use of BYOD as an influence on pedagogy. Researchers should also take into account multiple factors when analyzing the data which may limit is validity, including the following:
1) How many years has the teacher been teaching?
2) Did the teacher volunteer for the study or was told to do so by administration?
3) Does the School district’s technology framework support BYOD?
4) Did the teachers receive professional development on BYOD?
The answers to these questions will help determine the significance of the data from the surveys and student scores (Dusick, 2011).
References
from http://bold-ed.com/assumptions.htm
classroom. Retrieved from http://rde.nsw.edu.au/files/iPad_Evaluation_Sydney_Region.pdf